Students to visit Europe to learn about Holocaust: Group to depart Hiroshima in March
Feb. 4, 2015
by Yuji Yamamoto, Staff Writer
To mark the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the end of the war, the Hiroshima Peace Creation Fund (chaired by Yoshinori Okatani, president of the Chugoku Shimbun) will sponsor a tour to learn about the Holocaust, which, along with the atomic bombing, symbolizes the horrors of World War II. Young people from Hiroshima will travel to Poland, where they will tour the former site of a concentration camp where more than 1 million people were killed or died, and the Netherlands, where they will visit the house where Anne Frank (1929-1945) hid. They will also meet with local young people.
The group will consist of six students from universities in Hiroshima Prefecture as well as two high school students who cover peace-related issues and participate in related activities as junior writers for the Chugoku Shimbun. The group will depart Hiroshima on March 22 and travel to Poland to visit the former site of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim. At the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum they will see the gas chambers and buildings in which prisoners were held and where some of their personal belongings are now on display. The museum tour will be led by Takeshi Nakatani, the only Japanese serving as an official guide there. The group will also hear the account of an Auschwitz survivor.
In the Netherlands, the group will visit the house in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family hid. They will also deliver messages of peace from the mayor of Hiroshima, who serves as president of Mayors for Peace, to the mayors of both Oswiecim and Amsterdam.
After returning to Japan on March 29, the group will write articles about what they did on the trip and their impressions for the Chugoku Shimbun. They will also give presentations at high schools and universities, where students will talk about what they can do to pass on memories of the horrors of war and Hiroshima’s role.
(Originally published on January 26, 2015)
Tour sponsored by Hiroshima Peace Creation Fund
To mark the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the end of the war, the Hiroshima Peace Creation Fund (chaired by Yoshinori Okatani, president of the Chugoku Shimbun) will sponsor a tour to learn about the Holocaust, which, along with the atomic bombing, symbolizes the horrors of World War II. Young people from Hiroshima will travel to Poland, where they will tour the former site of a concentration camp where more than 1 million people were killed or died, and the Netherlands, where they will visit the house where Anne Frank (1929-1945) hid. They will also meet with local young people.
The group will consist of six students from universities in Hiroshima Prefecture as well as two high school students who cover peace-related issues and participate in related activities as junior writers for the Chugoku Shimbun. The group will depart Hiroshima on March 22 and travel to Poland to visit the former site of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim. At the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum they will see the gas chambers and buildings in which prisoners were held and where some of their personal belongings are now on display. The museum tour will be led by Takeshi Nakatani, the only Japanese serving as an official guide there. The group will also hear the account of an Auschwitz survivor.
In the Netherlands, the group will visit the house in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family hid. They will also deliver messages of peace from the mayor of Hiroshima, who serves as president of Mayors for Peace, to the mayors of both Oswiecim and Amsterdam.
After returning to Japan on March 29, the group will write articles about what they did on the trip and their impressions for the Chugoku Shimbun. They will also give presentations at high schools and universities, where students will talk about what they can do to pass on memories of the horrors of war and Hiroshima’s role.
(Originally published on January 26, 2015)
